Letter: Senator Carol Moseley-Braun on Queer Service Members

April 23, 1993 Letter to Senator Carol Moseley-Braun

Cpl J.A. Landrith, Jr.
Box 28, HQMC, OLA
Arlington, VA 22214

23 Apr 1993

Room SH-320
Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1303

Dear Senator Moseley-Braun:

First, let me congratulate you on your election to the United States Senate. Second, I recently had the opportunity to meet a member of your staff, Geoff Gibbs, on a recent Congressional delegation to West Coast Department of the Navy installations. A real professional with a bright future in the United States Senate. I look forward to working with him in the future.

I would like to take this time to express my support for the lifting of the military ban on homosexuals and as a heterosexual U. S. Marine, I am very aware of the current homophobia and lack of knowledge about homosexuality by members of the Armed Forces in all ranks, billets, and posts. This is very unfortunate as all it breeds is hatred and ignorance and teaches young Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen that hatred and prejudice is accepted behavior for military members. I have worked with homosexual Marines and Sailors, lived with homosexual Marines and Sailors, and gone to war with homosexual Marines and Sailors. The most detrimental threat to the morale and cohesion of the Armed Forces and the future of our Nation is the continued campaign of misinformation, distortion, and double standards by those who fight to suppress change and force their will on the populace. It is time to live up to the Constitution instead of trying to work around it and continue our current double standards which teach the next generation that “all men are created equal, but some are more equal than others”. The Republican Religious Right has attempted for years to suppress anything that is not consistent with their intolerant and twisted version of morality. These are the same people who would strip the American people of the Constitution and force their religious laws and beliefs upon the population. They are the same class of people who burned “witches” at the stake and burned crosses in another era in American history. I don’t think I need to say that this is a step backwards and not any form of advancement. The Constitution guarantees separation of Church and State. It’s time to adhere to that basic guideline that our Country’s founding fathers fought so hard to establish, instead of emulating 18th century Britian. It is sad that in the late 20th century, with all of mankind’s technological and industrial advancements; society still seems intent on reverting back to the dark ages. It is time to stop embracing ignorance and tradition. Ignorance is the disease that is destroying society and the world, everything else is just a symptom. Let us work toward the advancement of the human race and an end to fascist intolerance and prejudice.

This battle is simply not a question of whether or not homosexuals should be excluded from military service, it is an indicator of how far we have come in the evolution of democracy and a measurement of how much further we still have to go.

Thank you for taking the time to hear my views as military member and resident of the 18th Congressional District of the State of Illinois. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance to you as I work in the Office of the Legislative Assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. My phone number is (703) 614-XXXX (work); (703) 486-XXXX (home).

Sincerely,

Cpl James A. Landrith, Jr.